This invention is directed generally to furniture items of the type made of preformed panels or the like, and more particularly to a relatively simple and easily assembled, knock-down home filing cabinet.
Partially or fully prefabricated or pre-assembled furniture for the home or office is generally well-known. In particular, filing cabinets or other similar items of office furniture, are usually provided to the user in fully assembled form, and are made of many materials, such as wood, metal, composition materials and the like. However, particularly with respect to filing cabinets, commercial or office type filing cabinets currently in use are of relatively heavy, welded metal construction to withstand the rigors of commercial use. Hence such filing cabinets are generally not provided in relatively light weight knock-down form for assembly by the user. Rather they require assembly in a factory or the like utilizing relatively skilled workers, and welding equipment or other relatively expensive or complicated tools and the like.
As a result of this relatively heavy construction, preassembled form and the need for factory assembly, such filing cabinets have heretofore been relatively expensive at the retail or wholesale level. On the other hand, many consumers desire a relatively less expensive, home-type of filing cabinet or other similar office type furniture for home use only. Generally speaking, such furniture need not be as heavily constructed, since the typical home use is considerably less demanding on the furniture structurally. Moreover, such filing cabinets or other furniture may also be provided at relatively lesser cost if they are wholly or partly knocked down for final assembly by the consumer. Additionally, the use of relatively simpler and lighter weight components in the construction minimizes the shipping weight of such items, and hence can further minimize the end cost to the consumer.
As a related matter, such relatively inexpensive knock-down furniture for home use should also be relatively simple to assemble. That is, the parts thereof should be held to but a minimum of parts which are relatively simple to fit together and assemble, preferably using fasteners or other means of joining which can be accomplished by the unskilled consumer. Moreover, such assembly should require the use of only a relatively few, simple tools of the type normally found in the home, so as to be most easily assembled by the consumer. However, the assembled filing cabinet or other furniture item should be relatively sturdy and reliable in service, once assembled.